T-Shirt to Skirt Tutorial

Today’s post is a tutorial with a warning:

The tutorial will walk you through how to turn a T-shirt into a skirt for your little one.

And as for the warning it’s a two parter….Part one: If you make one of these skirts you will end up making a dozen of them. They are addicting. Which leads me to Part two: Because they are addicting I have several more posts coming where I make and embellish skirts that are made from T-shirts.

Alright. You’ve been warned. Now let’s get down to the business of the day.

These skirts are so easy to make! Plus they are comfortable and wash well so it’s a win win for me. My girls wear them all the time.

Here’s what you need to make them: A T-shirt, 1 inch elastic, a safety pin

And here’s how to make them:

Aright! Grab a T-shirt. For my girls (who both wear roughly a 5T) I use an adult T-shirt size small.

Then measure your little one from her waist to her knee (or where ever you would like her skirt to fall).

Now take that measurement and add one and one half inches. (So, for example, Ruth’s waist to knee measurement is 12 inches so after I add the 1.5 inches to that number I have 13 and one half inches.)

Alright, got your measurement number? Good! Now layout our T-shirt and measure up from the bottom hem of your shirt to that number and cut straight across like in the picture below.

Next fold down the edge you just cut (which will be the the top/waistband of your skirt). You will fold it down 1.5 inches around the entire circumference. Pin as you fold. Just like in the picture below.

*NOTE: You are folding away from the front so the raw edges are going to be on the inside of your skirt.

Once you’ve folded and pinned it’s time to sew! Sew one fourth of an inch up from the raw edge of your fold and around the entire circumference of your skirt. Leaving only about a one inch opening between where you start sewing and stop sewing for a place to insert your elastic.

What you’ve just made is the casing for the elastic waistband that we are going to make right now!

Measure your little one’s waist and then subtract an inch.

Take that measurement and cut a piece of 1 inch elastic to that length.

Next poke your safety pin through one end of your elastic. Now use that safety pin to guide your elastic into the hole in your waistband casing, around the circumference of the skirt, and back out the same hole.

Take both ends of your elastic and sew them together. (I usually go back and forth across them several times to make sure it is securely fastened together.)

Now push the elastic ends into the casing and sew up the opening to the casing.

(I like to sew up the hole and then sew two vertical lines across the waistband to help hold the elastic securely in place. It also helps my girls find which part of the skirt is the back 🙂 )

And you are done! There is no need to hem your skirt because you are using the original hem of the T-shirt and you don’t need to finish off the raw edges of the waistband that are on the inside of the skirt because T-shirts are made of knit and it won’t fray!

See….I told you this was easy!

And addicting!

Now that you’ve made one you are going to start thinking of all the ways you can change them up and embellish them….which explains why my girls drawers are full of these skirts….

-liZ

PS: I get most of my T-shirts at the Dollar store. For real. Just keep on the look out. Often they have some really cute colors! I just bought some bright green ones for the girls for St. Patricks day skirts….which I will be sharing soon 🙂

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Comments

I have been wanting to do quick skirts like this for awhile, but I had two things holding me back. 1. Do I need a knit needle on my machine? 2. When you say adult large, do you mean mens or ladies, using the example you used above? Thank you so much for all that you share!

A knit needle is best…and they are awesome…but truthfully I am lazy and never switch over….and just use my regular needle which works just fine.

I actually used a woman’s size small t-shirt for this skirt but the size doesn’t really matter…the only thing that will change is the larger the size the wider the shirt so the more gathered it will become.

Oh my!!! I just came home from the thrift store with a large pile of adult sized tee-shirts, both longsleeve and short, hoping to upcycle them into dresses etc for my 5 year old daughter. I shopped around on pinterest forever looking for the perfect tutorial for an upcycle pattern for a skirt. This is perfect!!! Making it during nap time today, and i’m so so so excited. And, i’m looking forward to your next posts on tee-shirt upcycle projects. Do you have any great ideas for reusing the sleeves of long sleeve (adult sized) shirts? I was thinking leggings for a young toddler, but i’d love to hear your ideas.

What a great, simple project. I have a question though, in the pictures the skirt looks a-line but I would think this technique would result in a rectangle or straight skirt. How does the skirt lay?
Thank you

[…] (If you have followed our blog for any time you already know that I LOVE using adult t-shirts to make girls skirts because of the prefinished hem! But if you are new…here is a link to my favorite T-shirt to skirt tutorial. […]

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Simple Simon and Company accepts paid advertising, products for review, and sponsored posts; but we promise that all opinions are our own. We also utilize affiliate marketing within text links on the website and will disclose each link. All work on this site is our own and tutorials are for personal use only. If you would like to link to one of our tutorials, feel free to use one picture and a link, but copying an entire tutorial is not cool. Please ask permission before using a picture of any of our children.